SJEDS Travels to Egypt

We were very lucky, that our tourist agency arranged for us to visit an elementary school on our last day. In addition we were going to visit a second school, which was arranged by Dr. El Safty’s brother and sister-in-law.

The first school, we visited was Futures International School.

Dr. Maged Zaki was very gracious to receive us on such short notice and show us around the school. The school has several different tracks and campuses: American, German, French, International and Technology Track.

We were on the Technology Campus and very impressed when we saw SmartBoards with projectors installed in every classroom. The teachers and students seemed very comfortable integrating technology into the curriculum and teaching/learning in English.

The 5 year old Kindergarten class we visited was working on their ABCs, using the SmartBoards as well as their writing journals to practice. Students were eager to show us all their English vocabulary that they already knew.

“J” stands for Jelly

“B” stands for Boy

They eagerly raised their hands to come to the board to write letters in capital or lower case.

Our tour continued to the upper levels of the elementary school, where we were allowed to join an English class. Students were curious, friendly and proud of how much English they knew. Each student stood up, when called upon to answer a question.

We saw a special Early Learning Section of the school, where great pride was taken to incorporate the special needs of the younger students into the design of the rooms and furniture.

A dedicated gymnasium and music room for the younger children was very inviting. The tables these youngsters were sitting at and having their snack time were especially chosen for the rounded corners.

While walking around campus, we saw many students eating their snacks during recess, that they brought from home. Others were playing tag or soccer.

Mrs. Tolisano was excited to see so much technology on campus. All students have their own laptops in addition to mobile laptop carts and computer labs with specially designed tables, where the monitors and keyboards can be “hidden” to make them functional as table tops.

We left a twin brother of our Jose, the travel bear, at the school as a thank-you. We hope he finds a home in a special classroom, that would be interested in collaborative projects with us in the future.

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